Systems containing a number of software components are used in a wide variety of applications. In order to integrate a new or modified software component into a larger system, certain configuration, deployment, management and administration information is required. Accordingly, integrating a new or modified software component into a larger system has required that new code be written, code recompiled, and/or code redeployed on the larger system so that the new components can be configured, deployed, managed, and administered. As a result, updating an existing system to add new processing elements or other software components has been difficult, time consuming and expensive. In addition, the configuration and deployment requirements are typically project specific, and may not be known at the time a software component is originally deployed. Accordingly, new or modified components often require different configurations when used in different projects.
The integration of software components therefore has often required that existing or established software be modified or re-configured in order to add the new component. In addition to often being a difficult task, such modification or re-configuration usually requires a step of compiling and/or redeploying the modified code. Accordingly, integrating new or modified software into systems has remained difficult, and has required the creation of revised code for each different application or use of a system.